The present invention relates generally to artificial fishing lures, and in particular to a synthetic jig trailer fishing lure that exhibits life-like suppleness, texture and buoyancy when immersed in water.
One general class of fishing lures are commonly referred to as "jig trailers." Although variations exist, these lures typically include a head portion that receives the fishing hook and an elongated trailing portion that extends from the head portion. Historically, jig trailers have been manufactured from treated animal hides, since no other known materials had the strength of animal hide while retaining life-like suppleness, texture and buoyancy in water. Jig trailers are generally not used alone; instead they are typically attached to the hook of a rubber legged or hair skirted jig (a hook molded into a lead head). When in use, a jig trailer enhances the life-like look and feel of a bare jig.
At the present time, the oldest and largest selling product in this fishing lure class is referred to as "Uncle Josh", which essentially consists of a pork hide lure that must be sealed in a preservative and kept from contact with the air until use. These type of animal hide fishing lures are typically manufactured from organic pig hide that is comprised of a layer of skin with a portion of fatty tissue. This type of organic matter obviously deteriorates with exposure to heat, light and air. Therefore, such an animal hide must be preserved during manufacturing, distribution, and even during fishing since it will dry out and become unusable within minutes if not kept in an aqueous solution. The lures are sold in a preservative solution that, is messy, greasy and extremely difficult to reuse. Some versions are sold in small jars that are sealed to prevent leakage, since any leakage of the special preservative solution causes the container top to seize making it extremely difficult to open or reopen.
While animal hide lures exhibit desirable life-like action when fresh, age deteriorates the lure causing odor, discoloration, and the formation of grease from rotting flesh on the surface of the lure. Thus, even if the fisherman is successful in preventing the lure from drying out, it will eventually become rotted and unusable. These products are also have the drawback of being substantially unable to absorb water or fish attractant liquids since the animal hide has little absorbent properties and is saturated with the preservative solution when sold. Finally, animal hide is very tough, and manufacturing often requires a punched hole so that the fisherman can penetrate the thick layer of fat and skin with a fishing hook. Once in place on a jig, removal of the fishing hook due to its barb is extremely difficult, and often cannot be accomplished without destroying the lure.
Another type of animal hide jig trailer is manufactured from treated sheep skin in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,194 to Coody. These lures are made from domestic animal skin using a special treating process that allows the skin tissue to absorb water and become thick and meaty. While these specially treated animal hides appear to last significantly longer than the Uncle Josh baits, they do so only by sacrificing performance. In any event, these hide jig trailers still deteriorate over time and retain the hook penetration difficulties of all animal hide lures.
Relatively recently, molded plastic jig trailers have appeared on the market in the same basic shape as the long available animal hide lures. These jig trailers are made from the same molded plastic material as artificial worms. While these artificial jig trailers provide action similar to animal hide designs, they lack absorbency sufficient to carry a fish attractant scent, and the weakness of the material quickly causes it to deteriorate and shred apart from any concentrated stress, such as that caused by a fish strike or the localized stress caused by a fish hook. Once destroyed during fishing, these artificial jig trailers must be discarded.
What is needed is a jig trailer that is easily manufactured; that does not require special packaging or preservatives during manufacturing, distribution or use; that is resilient and reusable and capable of being dyed in many colors and cut into many shapes; and, exhibits a life-like look and feel, without the between use problems encountered in jig trailer fishing lures of the prior art.